The crafty shenanigans of Bossymamma

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A Bit of A Conundrum

Those of you who have been following my blog will probably have realised that I enjoy making things for charity. I am not as generous as that makes me sound. Let me explain.I love making things, whether I’m sewing, knitting, crocheting or doing some other type of crafting, but I don’t like just making things to have them lying around at home, cluttering the place. So, making things and then giving them to charity means I can fulfil my need to create but not clutter. An added bonus is that I am able to feel that I am helping others, although in just a small way.

In recent weeks I have mentioned LILY, the organisation in Turkey and Jordan collecting knitted and crocheted eight inch squares which are made into blankets for Syrian refugees. I have been making squares, bootees and scarves to send to LILY and this week, with a little help from Amy and Beryl, I reached the target weight I had decided upon, so it was time to post everything.

Image from Hand in Hand in Syria website

I spent some time on the internet researching the cost of sending the items to Turkey and/or Jordan. It worked out less expensive to send them to Turkey. I have deliberately used the words “less expensive” as “cheap” definitely does not apply.

Image from Hand in Hand in Syria website

I needed to send two packages, each weighing a maximum of 1kg, in order to comply with LILY’s request. The result was that I had to pay £15.70 i.e. £7.85 each, to send the parcels. I had already decided that I was prepared to pay that cost of postage but I had to think about whether I would be happy to do so again. Therein lies the conundrum. I want to help the Syrian refugees but spending so much on postage feels like ‘dead’ money to me.

Image from Hand in Hand in Syria website

I have spent a lot of time thinking about this and have come to the conclusion that rather than paying for postage, I should donate an equivalent amount to Hand In Hand For Syria to support their work. In some ways I feel as though I have opted for the easy option, but it doesn’t feel easy. I suppose that’s why it’s such a conundrum.